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Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Kanye West Breaks Musical Barriers With ‘Yeezus’

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PITCHFORK.COM

Kanye West has gone mad. But, luckily for us, genius tends to border madness, at least in the music industry, and that can lead to some pretty great music.

Yeezus is spectacular, strange and extravagant, withKanye proving to his listeners — and his haters — that he is still the best innovator in his field. Is he the most eccentric, self-centered person on the planet? He sure hopes so, but nobody in the world is better at exploiting his celebrity than Kanye, except maybe his baby mama. While songs like “I Am a God” possibly border on blasphemous, the title may not be completely inaccurate, at least evidenced by the fact that masses of people waited desperately for the release of his new album. For him, it is just a game; he’s here to entertain his fans.

Many were nervous that Yeezus would be too out-there or too experimental for people to handle, but when the album dropped, reception was overwhelmingly positive. Heavily compared to 808s & HeartbreakYeezus instead saw Kanye incorporate various experimental electronic elements and samples and ramp-up his use of auto tune for the new album. The beats are sharper and cleaner than Kanye’s first real foray into the world of electronic. However, his newest effort doesn’t isolate itself to one particular style, and moments throughout the album sound like they were taken straight from old College Dropout outtakes. Opener “On Sight” is a futuristic synth-filled rap and splices in an old school, classic Kanye sample in the middle of the song to perfectly set the tone for the display of genius about to follow. The dark tone of the album goes even further than that of his most recent solo album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and his compelling lyrics provide plenty to mull over in this 40 minutes of hauntingly beautiful music.

While some of the album examines social issues as per usual — tracks like “New Slave” and “Black Skinhead” both offer up a perspective on racism in modern America — the majority of Yeezus is dedicated to showing off his experimentation, occasionally at the expense of the lyrical strength. Compared to the musical innovation and new directions that Kanye is pursuing, the lyrics fall short of what a listener would expect from this musical mastermind. However, this album is a tour-de-force of power, with even his most irreverent lyrics alluding to some modern issue.

Despite minor setbacks, Yeezus is one of the best albums I’ve listened to. One of the biggest complaints voiced by fans is a desire for the old Kanye — they want something that sounds a lot more like College Dropout or Late Registration, with more laid back, traditional hip-hop beats and verses. And while the closer, “Bound 2,” and various samples throughout the album offer up something similar, it’s essential to keep in mind that is has been nine years since College Dropout, so a fair bit of artistic development is necessary to keep Kanye’s music relevant and modern. And keep in mind,Kanye meant for his fans to feel a little uneasy with the new material. We’re meant to follow along in his journey of musical experimentation and oddity, and personally I love every twist and turn.

I had the opportunity to attend a release party/listening event for Yeezus in D.C., which — if anything — proved to me that the album was a musical force to be taken seriously, despite its sometimes bizarre style and lyrics. The sheer power behind songs such as “New Slave” and “I’m In It” is almost overwhelming but somehow manages to keep me completely enamored with Kanye’s musical prowess. “I’m In It” provides a fresh take on older songs. “Slow Jamz,” which features a catchy bridge and chorus, possesses the same slowed beat that demands abuse of the replay button. Moreover, while there are no blockbuster songs like “All of the Lights” or “Monster” — both successes from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy — the album as a whole is much more appealing than any of Kanye’sother projects.

Overall, I can’t really complain about the quality of this album at all. Impossible to stop listening to, it will go down in history as a groundbreaking hip-hop album — if it can even be called that — and as an album that will influence the genre from here on out. Kanye is one of the best musical trendsetters, after all, and the highly unexpected style of Yeezus will without a doubt go on to be a landmark album of not only his career, but of the genre (rap? electronic? It’s irrelevant.) as a whole. And despite the inherent narcissism of alluding to himself as a religious deity, perhaps Kanye is our musical savior, at least in the sense that he’s reinvigorating a genre to meet a demand listeners didn’t even know they had.  He sure thinks so.

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